duranduranfandomcom-20200214-history
Seven and the Ragged Tiger Demos
Seven and the Ragged Tiger Demos is an unofficial Duran Duran related compilation album, released by Decade in 1999. About the album Released as an extra to the unofficial Night Version Companion, the album features a collection of fake Duran Duran recordings. The Rare CD Guide Site published a message from John Taylor on 12 March 1999 confirming the album was fake. John Taylor's message reads: "Very interesting! Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make this sound like it's Duran Duran in the studio, work in progress. Not so. Bogus is the word that comes to mind. We were not using drum machines and sequencers at the time except on "Tiger Tiger", which came at the end of the sessions. "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" (the song) is especially interesting as someone has gone to the trouble of replicating the demos using drum machines. If you really want this song, you will have to look harder for the original!". The only known Seven and the Ragged Tiger album demo is the song "Seven and the Ragged Tiger", a track available on Perfect Days: Now And Then. Track listing #Intro #"New Moon on Monday" #"The Reflex" #"I Take the Dice" #"Seven and the Ragged Tiger" #"Tiger Tiger" #"Of Crime and Passion" #"Union of the Snake" #"New Moon on Monday" #"Tiger Tiger" Album notes Summertime in England can be pleasant. Unless, of course, you are Duran Duran and EMI is expecting you to produce an album in time for the Christmas season. Another problem - the band were leaving the country to record songs on their new album, prompting speculation that they would become tax exiles. It was no secret that all five members would loathe to give over 40% of their hard earned cash to the British government, especially as they all were aware of the fickleness of pop culture. But the media circus loved it, and printed fact and fiction about it in huge quantities. At the beginning of recording, the band found themselves at a private chateau in the south of France. They remixed some old songs for a live video, wrote new songs for the next album, visited the Cannes Film Festival and also played host to Jools Holland from The Tube. But Duran Duran became bored, feeling isolated and far from civilization or nightlife. So the band flew on to Montserrat to continue recording songs. AIR Studios on that island was to become their home, with Alex Sadkin as Producer. It was supposed to keep them away from the outside pressures of the media and fans. Again, it truly did not suit the band's style and after 5 weeks there, they hated it. The majority of the album was recorded in Montserrat, waiting only for the final mix-downs before completion. Regardless, the band was not completely happy with the results. But things had to wait, as the royal family was calling. Simon, Nick, Andy, Roger and John returned to London to play two well-publicized outdoor festivals; the first at London's Dominion Theatre on July 20th and the second at the Aston Villa Park in Birmingham three days later. It was during this period that the band (in one form or another) sneaked into a demo studio in London to continue working on tracks for the new album. The songs collected here (most completely unfinished) are certainly rough works of art that were never meant to be seen (or heard) outside of the studio. Initial song ideas that were formed in France and in Montserrat are played about with many different sounds morphed into new ones. At the time, Simon had a cold, which prevented him from singing on all the tracks. Perhaps we shall let you guess who the singer is? The tape these tracks were taken from was really only meant to be used as a one-time reference medium to be recorded over the next day, or just simply erased. However, this one wasn't. Alex Sadkin and Ian Little worked feverishly with the band at 301 Studios in downtown Sydney to transform and rework these rough tracks into the final masterpieces, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, which was to be the band's most pivotal album. Category:Compilation Albums Category:Unofficial albums Category:Decade (Record Label)